We're over halfway there - saving our way through July 2012

[Leilandri]

We've done over 6 months of penny-pinching, practical, prudent, scrimping money-saving. Well done to us

June didn't end too badly for me overall, not going to total it up tho
I hope the weather in July is better than it has been - plenty of NSD's at the allotment would be lovely.

[Fluffycloudland77]

When I changed our electric supplier to EDF they werent doing cashback anywhere but I compared again through energylinx? and they were on quidco so I got £32 back.

If you use cloth nappies look on your local council website, they usually have a form to print out that your HV can sign to say your dc is in cloths nappies and then they give you £20ish back, sometimes more.

[economymode]

Fluffy, just checked my county council website and they have a whole page on why you should use reuseables (we do!) but they have no cash incentive . Neither does district council. Fair enough I guess, but it would have been nice!

[jenduck]

Spent a bit here today. 30p on Edward Bear club, £1.99 on eggs from Co-op (10 free-range, the best price I have found for f-r eggs), £1.50 in Greggs for treat for DS1 doing so well at pre-school & treat for myself then 35p on toy car for DS1 in charity shop.

This is OT, but just need to write it down, so please excuse me. DS1 had a 'trial' at pre-school where he is starting in September this morning, which he really enjoyed. When he came out, they gave me a pack to read, & on the back it mentioned a session they run for children starting in September & their parents! I feel very as I had not heard of this before today, and from something the teacher said, I think all the other children from the class have been going to it, which makes me feel that DS1 has missed out & may therefore find it more difficult to settle in. I just feel like I have let him down badly by not finding out about this - indeed, when I look it is on their website, but nothing has been mentioned to me about it since registering him just after Easter! We have been going to another, council-run, group in the school grounds, so he is familiar with the setting, but not the teachers or other children.

Anyway, enough of me, hope you have all had good & frugal days.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Sorry your council doesn't give a nappy incentive economy.

Jen do you have an Aldi? They do 15fr eggs for the same price.

[artifarti]

£15.90 in LIDL today which will hopefully eke out the meals for a few more days. Haven't been in there for ages so was really impressed at some of the deals there e.g. pine nuts which are a fortune elsewhere.

My council also talks the talk about nappies but admits to giving nada incentives.

jen - don't worry too much about your DS, I'm sure he will settle okay if he knows the setting. My DS1 starts reception in September and a lot of the DCs know each other from the pre-school there but they soon find friends at that age. He has just moved pre-school rooms at the nursery he goes to; I thought he'd find it really difficult to leave his friends but he seems to be fine!

[StrokemyForehead]

I have found my spiritual home at last somewhere that I truly fit in on MN

I have always been careful with money but have found myself getting into some bad habits of late (mainly with the food bill) and I need to reign myself in a bit.

[AdoraBell]

Hello Stroke and welcome. I'm not posting much this week, or next, have DDs off school. I'll be penny pinching again soon

[louiespence]

A NSD for me!! Woohoo! The first in ages. Have not been doing too badly this week, £120 on grocery shop on Monday (got loads though, including 3 huge boxes of nappies that were on offer!), £8 at shop on Tues, on a gift for a friend that has been in hospital.

Was feeling quite pleased as I sold a few things on eBay at the weekend, making over £50, but one of the buyers has left me really unreasonable negative feedback today without contacting me beforehand. Apparently the top he bought, although the shop label is XL, he thinks it is more like a L! He has ruined my 100% feedback too, I think some buyers enjoy doing that knowing that sellers can't leave negative feedback any more in return!

[Greedygirl]

Didn't manage NSD after all yesterday, one of those busy, busy days where you end up paying for lunch as no packed lunch made and I bought ds a McDonald's on the way home as my MIL had given him a bowl of cereal for lunch and he was starving so his pester power worked! Aiming for a NSD to
day (apart from a few groceries - I don't count spending on the joint account!)

jenduck try not to worry too much about your ds, I have had the most convoluted child care arrangements for the last 2 years so that my ds can mix with some local children (as well as going to DH's work nursery in town) and now I find out that none of the children he has met there are going to his primary school in any case! He doesn't seem perturbed, at this age his friendship choices seem to be based on whoever likes Star Wars or Batman! But yes it is annoying that they didn't tell you.

[economymode]

Jen, was also going to mention 15 free-range eggs for £1.99 at Aldi.

A NSD yesterday, but only because I forgot my wallet when I went to Stay & Play, so I now owe the children's centre £1. Loads of people don't pay (it is voluntary), but they provide drinks and snacks so I think it is fair enough to contribute.

[Leilandri]

Quite a spendy day today.
Buying 2 bundles of clothes for DS1 off facebook for £24, but the items work out at less than £1 each for jeans, tops, pj's etc.
Have sold some things myself, totalling £25 - so I guess it is more of a swap day really :)

[StrokemyForehead]

OK well today has not started well popped into the library to get DS2 a book and happened to check my account and there £26 overdue charges on it I have no idea how I forgot I had so many books out and that they were overdue.

I am going to count all my pennies at home and put them through the coinstar machine in Tesco tomorrow so I can chip off the majority of the cost so it does not have to come off the bank account.

I today I have spent £6.85 on toddler gymnastics session and some veggies.
Need to get petrol later too.

I am going t start looking around for free or mega cheap things to do in the Kent area over the summer as I don't want to be parting with £££ to keep the kids happy.

I also have a Links of London bracelet that my ex gave me that I want to try and sell. so that should claw back some cash.

[jenduck]

Hi everybody. Thanks for the words of reassurance about my DS. Rationally, I know he'll be fine, I just want the absolute best for him (as we all do for our DC) & was having a bit of a wobbly moment! Didn't someone once say parents always feel guilty?!

Almost an NSD so far today, just a book for 20p at library book sale & a Kitkat reduced to 30p , but Tesco later for value rice pudding & a jar for DS2 for when my grandparents will give him lunch tomorrow (have a coupon for money off). Then Sainsburys, probably about £5 in cafe then will spend £20 in store, use £2 off coupon + £10 Nectar points, so will spend about £8.

Now just about to arrange a collection of my unwanted clothes by clothesforcash.com. If all my clothes are accepted, it should make £10+, which is not amazing, but it all helps.

Strokemyforehead is your library online? Ours is & you can renew books online (or also over the phone) which will save fines if you can't get there.

Louiespence, I can sympathise about Ebay. Had the same kind of thing happen to me (buyer leaving negative comments about marks on a top, when I had detailed these marks in the description. Ebay didn't want to know), so I have stopped selling on Ebay now & just sell at car boot sale/Facebook/Gumtree. I also found postage a bit of a pain with Ebay.

Thanks for recommendations about eggs at Aldi. Sadly, our nearest one is a few miles away & requires a car journey, whereas Tesco & Co-op are both walkable & Co-op is opposite the group I go to each Wednesday.

[economymode]

Going ok here, a few odds and sods with coop vouchers yesterday but no actual money was spent!

[artifarti]

Thought yesterday was going to be a NSD but ended up spending £4 on an ice cream and sandwich to cheer up DS1 when a playdate cancelled at the last minute.

Today I took advantage of the M&S uniform sale and spent £20 (saved £5 and free postage and my first cashback (thanks for the tip!) of a mighty 48p!

Also spent £24.99 in Argos on a baby monitor but that was all Nectar points so nothing in reality.

£9 in my new favourite LIDL to stock up and now hopefully a couple of NSDs.

Do baby clothes sell well? I have a million.

[FaceCrack]

Morning all!

I'm back from my holidays in Sussex. It was a bit damp but we had a great time regardless. We didn't overspend either which is a relief.

I'm doing a long day at work today so NSD for me!

[Leilandri]

Hiya all

Been quite spendy over the past few days
Spent £30 at garden centre on veggy plants for allotment, tho most were strawbs and asparagus so will get a good return for our money.
£19 in ELC in half price sale on Xmas bits and bobs for DS's.
£23 on a brew-your-own-ale kit for DH
£6 in poundland on bits for Dmum and DS2's joint 60th and 1st Bday party in 3 weeks time.
£10 in Game on Xbox game for DH he did trade in £12.50 worth of old games to get a 2nd game, and we got a 3rd game free - so chose a game for DGoddaughters birthday
£18 in Morrisons on top-up shop, mostly for DS2 as he is eating us out of house and home at the moment little gannet so £14 was on formula, blueberries and strawbs for him

God - £106 in a few days.... soon adds up doesn't it?!?!

[jenduck]

Hi all. Not been keeping very close tabs on spending over the weekend as been rather poorly (nasty tummy bug, nearly gone now) & I think DS2 has caught it too . But will try & do a summary of spending!

Friday - didn't spend anything as DH forgot to leave me his car keys to take his car for MOT . Then visited family in afternoon.

Saturday - didn't leave house, me & DH too poorly

Sunday - managed energry to go to car boot sale - was very muddy! Got Fireman Sam hat with sounds for DS1 (£1), 3 x informative kids' books (about animals etc) (10p each), Buzz Lightyear T-shirt for DS1, like new (50p), That's not my Puppy book for DS2 (50p), Wiggles book for DSes (50p) & BNIP Transformers puzzle for my nephew for Xmas (£1) plus £1 entry fee. Considering the Fireman Sam helmet alone is £15 without batteries, I think we did pretty well!

Monday - DH took car for MOT (£45), which it failed. Spent £2 on new pipes to try & fix it, didn't work. Have now put it up for sale, hopefully will get decent price for it as fault very easy to fix if person has time & skills (emissions fault). DH also spent about £8 at McDonald's whilst waiting for MOT to be done (my suggestion, he's looked after me so well & I am such a bad patient!)

Have also received loads of freebies - handbag-sized Ambre Solaire (Thanks Mumsnet!), crocs for DS2, £10 Sainsbury's giftcard for doing surveys online & I'm sure there are more!

Today will be NSD as staying in to wait for Citilink to collect my clothes for cash bag - any time between 10 & 5.30 I just know they'll turn up when I'm on the loo!

Facecrack, glad you had a good holiday. ALways feels better when you don't overspend!

Artifarti, tbh I have not found that baby clothes sell well online. They sell well at car boot sale, but you will get max 50p per item. The other option is NCT sales, where you can charge more, but give 25% of profit to organisers, I think. Glad you have discovered cashback . May only be 48p now, but surprising how quickly it adds up.

Leilandri, I am making a pact with myself not to tell DH about brew your own ale kit! We already have wine & cider in the airing cupboard, but I think he's left it too late & they're no good now!

Hope you all have a good day

[economymode]

Oh, Jen, sorry to hear you and the family have been poorly. Hope you're all fighting fit again soon. I really ought to brave a car boot sale to see what bargains are to be had.

Artifarti, I too haven't had great experiences of selling baby clothes online. But others on here have. I'd try a free listing weekend on ebay or gumtree/facebook/local classifieds. Then, if they don't sell you haven't had to pay any fees.

Doing ok here. A friend gave us a sandpit the other day (they were sent two and can't get company to pick up one of them, so offered it to us:-), so I've bought a load of sand for that (£8.97 from toys'r'us). Aldi shop was around £25.

We're toying with the idea of sending EconomyBoy to a childminder one day per week, so he gets used to not having mummy around constantly. And, I'm pretty confident that having made lots of cutbacks and savings since Jan that we can afford it, hurrah!

We've both had birthdays this past week, so MrEconomy and I have some money to splash (or save). He needs some new shoes but apart from that there's nothing we need. Part of me is tempted to have a couple of hours at Bath Spa (in laws live in Bristol, so we could ask them to meet us there and have the boy for an afternoon) - I've been feeling really grotty with this pregnancy (scan next week, so I can finally explain to everyone why I've been so lame) and could really do with a treat. On the upside, I'm meant to be going to the pub on Friday night but I really don't think I can manage (been in bed by 8pm on several nights this week, earlier if I could!) so that'll be some money saved...

[milk]

OMG I am having a NSD and actually sticking to it although it is still 14:31 and I won't be going to bed for another 7 hours!

I tried yesterday but spent £3.87 in Asda, buying loo paper, apple juice, and tomatoes.

I really need to have a no spend week but as a shopoholic it is so damn hard!

[artifarti]

Well, the weekend was pretty low cost except maybe £5 a day for some snacks in the park. Yesterday just £1.20 on stamps. Today £17.35 in LIDL and £14.18 in Sainsbo's but that should last until the weekend at least.

But the good news is that by looking at our spending in the last few days, in addition to saving £120 (stopping lovefilm), I have switched energy suppliers (saving £262 a year!) and changed cat insurers (saving a whopping £336 a year!). I also stopped a charity DD (£180 a year) which seems really mean but I used to work for them and they weren't very nice to me at all so hey-ho. So that's an £898 saving before I look at the car or house insurance! And thanks to you lovely ladies I also got £55 cashback doing it.

Thanks for the advice re baby clothes. I think I'll probably wait until DS2 has grown out of all the baby stuff, toys etc. and then do an NCT or carboot sale. Ebay scares me

jen - hope you are all feeling better. I love the MN freebies too - in the last few weeks I have had Aldi nappies and wipes (surprisingly good), Garnier moisturiser and a children's book! When DS1 was a baby I won a washing machine on MN so always like to have a bash at those too. Which surveys do you do - I signed up for some but after 20 minutes of answering the same question about potato waffles or somesuch I tend to lose the will to live and give up!

economy - oooh, some time in Bath spa sounds lovely. I went there on a classy hen do a lovely of year's ago. Was v nice.

[milk]

Congratulations on the savings artifarti :)

Well it is 15:43 and I still have not spent a penny

[economymode]

Do you get invited to test products by MN? Just checked the 'product tests' forum and it all seems to discussions about the products. How do I get in on the action?

Having said that, I did get some anti-bac spray a few months ago, but that's the only thing I've ever been invited to test.

artifarti, that's good going! Yep, love Bath and the spa but not been since EconomyBoy was born - we're due a visit .

I need to cancel our NCT direct debit - I can't really be bothered with the bunfights that are their sales anymore.

[artifarti]

Yes, I get invited to test (or to ask to test at any rate). Go to News & Events (top right of this screen) and then Product Tests and Surveys - you can sign up there. Keep an eye on the right hand bit of the screen as well, where they have current news and things - that's where I saw the children's books up for grabs.

[economymode]

Thanks, maybe I'm being stupid but I can't see anywhere to sign up, it just takes me to the chat page to discuss the product tests. Will just keep an eye out I guess!